Larry, I sit right in zone 26 (Phuket Island, Thailand). I usually operate PSK QRP with my trusty PSK-20 (3 watts) from the nearby beach. I can reach USA west coast, so under good conditions (and lots of luck), we could manage a QSO... Let me know if you want to try a sked

Larry, I sit right in zone 26 (Phuket Island, Thailand). I usually operate PSK QRP with my trusty PSK-20 (3 watts) from the nearby beach. I can reach USA west coast, so under good conditions (and lots of luck), we could manage a QSO... Let me know if you want to try a sked

Simon

Hi Simon, FB on the PSK. And thanks for the invitation for a sked. I'm only on CW right now and even worse I'm in Tennessee which means its a rough path over the poles to get to zone 26. However maybe we can try early this fall on 20 meters. My best success with that part of the world (unless the solar flux skyrockets) has been long path on 20 from 1200 - 1500Z in the fall. Signals are strong. (And I could use the IOTA too - haha!)

I can email you when SE Asian signals start to peak here.

And once again, thank you very much for the post and the opportunity for a sked. I really appreciate it.

QRP DXCC speaks volumes about the ability of the other operators to receive well, and to pull the QRP station out of the mess if there are pileups. It also speaks to the patience of the QRP operator, but most of the skill and technical effort is in hearing a weak signal....not generating it.

:-)

73 Tom

Tom, that's a common misconception..

A DX station working a pile-up isn't trying to "pull out the QRPer" - he's just trying to work those he hears. The fact that he hears, and then works, the QRPer is a function of his having heard the QRPer rather than the others calling him. This is because the QRPer called where the DX is listening at a time when the others didn't. By virtue of calling off-freq (outside the passband), the QRO ops make themselves "virtual QRPpers" who are too weak to be heard.

There is much virtual dB to be gained by practicing the skill of precision zero-beating - a technique often absent in QRO DXers...and to their detriment.

QRP DXCC speaks volumes about the ability of the other operators to receive well, and to pull the QRP station out of the mess if there are pileups. It also speaks to the patience of the QRP operator, but most of the skill and technical effort is in hearing a weak signal....not generating it.

:-)

73 Tom

Tom, that's a common misconception..

A DX station working a pile-up isn't trying to "pull out the QRPer" - he's just trying to work those he hears. The fact that he hears, and then works, the QRPer is a function of his having heard the QRPer rather than the others calling him. This is because the QRPer called where the DX is listening at a time when the others didn't. By virtue of calling off-freq (outside the passband), the QRO ops make themselves "virtual QRPpers" who are too weak to be heard.

There is much virtual dB to be gained by practicing the skill of precision zero-beating - a technique often absent in QRO DXers...and to their detriment.

When I operate I listen specifically for weaker stations about every other transmission in pileups and all the time when there are no pileups. I hope others do the same.

I work dozens of QRP stations or limited antenna stations from Europe and Japan on 40 meters and 80 meters, and I've worked fish pole QRP stations and mobile stations on 160 from Japan, some with some regularity.Little of that requires any special calling from them, except they have to call long enough and not give up as I dig one or two letters out at a time, sometimes taking 5-10 minutes just to get a call sign.

A few times in contests we put two or three operators on one frequency, stopping a 2 or 3 QSO a minute rate and spending a minute or two just to work a few milliwatt station using a mediocre antenna.

I think it is grossly unfair to pretend all the DX worked is due entirely to QRP operator skill when the bulk of the hardware and effort comes from the station hearing an exceptionally weak signal. Now if we are talking high power, like 50 watts, that really isn't QRP at all in my book. :-) That's only 15 dB down from 1500 watts. Usually there is more than enough noise headroom for that.

I really enjoy digging out weak signals, if they are really QRP and not just using bad antennas. :-) I think most people do. But far too much of the credit goes to the station running low power, while the fellow doing all the work and whose gear has to be exceptional to hear very weak signals gets no credit at all.

What radios do milliwatts? My FT-950 does 5 watts minimum (about 3-4 after coax/antenna losses). Was have been able to work about 60 countries at my 5 watts minimum, before I deleted my contest QSOs, bringing my QRP total down to about 25 or so.

I would have to admit, I would get a major rush with 100 milliwatts, just as I did as a kid on those walkie talkies.

HELLO TO ALL, FIRST TIME POSTER ON THIS FORUM, PSE EXCUSE CAPS AS I AM NOT A VERY GUD TYPIST. SEVERAL OF YOU KNOW ME, DAN WG5G. WELL IM STILL TRYING TO GET THE CHALLENGE OUT TO THE QRP HEAVYWEIGHTS, IS THERE ANY ONE ELSE ON OR HAS EVER MADE THE DXCC HONOR ROLL WHILE USING QRP, REGARDLESS OF THE ANT? I HAVE BEEN ON THE HONOR ROLL SINCE 1994, ALL QRP MIXED MODE, I AM CURRENTLY ON THE HR WITH 338 ALLTIME, AND 331 CURRENT COUNTRIES WORKED. I AM ON THE CQ MAGAZINES CW HONOR ROLL WITH 325. IT TOOK ME 10 YEARS TO MAKE HONOR ROLL QRP THE FIRST TIME, AND I HAVE BEEN BUMPED OFF THE BOTTOM RUNG A FEW TIMES OVER THE YEARS. ANYWAY, I JUST FEEL LIKE I AM THE NUMBER 1 QRPER IN THE WORLD, BUT ONLY SOME OF THE OLD TIMERS KNOW WHO I AM. SORRY FOR THE SELF PROMOTION, BUT I FEEL I SHOULD AT LEAST BE MENTIONED IN A THREAD ABOUT QRP DXCC. LASTLY, THE QRO BOYS THAT POST HERE SHOULD TAKE A WALK IN A REAL QRPERS SHOES BEFORE THEY POST ON A SUBJECT THEY KNOW LITTLE ABOUT. 73/72 DAN, WG5G/QRP.

HELLO TO ALL, FIRST TIME POSTER ON THIS FORUM, PSE EXCUSE CAPS AS I AM NOT A VERY GUD TYPIST. SEVERAL OF YOU KNOW ME, DAN WG5G. WELL IM STILL TRYING TO GET THE CHALLENGE OUT TO THE QRP HEAVYWEIGHTS, IS THERE ANY ONE ELSE ON OR HAS EVER MADE THE DXCC HONOR ROLL WHILE USING QRP, REGARDLESS OF THE ANT? I HAVE BEEN ON THE HONOR ROLL SINCE 1994, ALL QRP MIXED MODE, I AM CURRENTLY ON THE HR WITH 338 ALLTIME, AND 331 CURRENT COUNTRIES WORKED. I AM ON THE CQ MAGAZINES CW HONOR ROLL WITH 325. IT TOOK ME 10 YEARS TO MAKE HONOR ROLL QRP THE FIRST TIME, AND I HAVE BEEN BUMPED OFF THE BOTTOM RUNG A FEW TIMES OVER THE YEARS. ANYWAY, I JUST FEEL LIKE I AM THE NUMBER 1 QRPER IN THE WORLD, BUT ONLY SOME OF THE OLD TIMERS KNOW WHO I AM. SORRY FOR THE SELF PROMOTION, BUT I FEEL I SHOULD AT LEAST BE MENTIONED IN A THREAD ABOUT QRP DXCC. LASTLY, THE QRO BOYS THAT POST HERE SHOULD TAKE A WALK IN A REAL QRPERS SHOES BEFORE THEY POST ON A SUBJECT THEY KNOW LITTLE ABOUT. 73/72 DAN, WG5G/QRP.

Dan, my QRP DX hero - how are you doing buddy? Its like the "life is too short for QRP" dig. Everytime I see that one I say "What?" Kind of like some of the statements in this post. It just leaves you wondering.Anywat I got my 5band DXCC last year with 30,12, and 17 endorsements. This year I'm applying for DC Challenge with 1055 LOTW. I have almost 1200 including cards. And I have 422 IOTAs worked with 409 confirmed. But my biggest wish for this next DX season is for a zone 26 QSO. That would give me WAZQRP. But with all that I have a ways to catch up to you haha. I need to get my beam back up. I've been milliwatting waiting for some good stuff to come along I'm up to 60 countries running 850mW from a Sierra to a windom. I'm starting to build a fairly exotic mW QSL collection. Best stuff so far has been 4A4A, 9L5MS, 5M2TT, KH6, LU, A PY IOTA, CY0, and other various NA SA, and EU countries. Congrats on the numbers and hang in there because you never know when a highly skilled op will come along and pick up your weak low tech signal. ha ha

QRP DXCC is a noble goal. It takes persistence and patience. I decided to try for QRP DXCC during the bottom of the last sun spot cycle. The bands were dead and I was bored. It took me about a year but I did it - all on CW. I used a PFR-3 for QRPKits and a Hustler 6BTV ground mounted vertical. My longest contact was with VQ9RD on 40 CW. I could barely hear him but he answered me on the first call. Today, when there is nothing new on for the QRO log I look for new QRP countries.

Regardless of anyone stance on QRP, for or against, I wish you QRP ops the best of luck trying to get thru the 'mother of all pileups' in the upcoming South Sudan inaugural DXpedition that is soon to kick off from that new country. Every ham on the DXCC Honor Roll will be there fighting with the rest of us to get that QSO/QSL to keep their place in the standings. It should be the makings for a pileup to be remembered around the campfire for years to come

Regardless of anyone stance on QRP, for or against, I wish you QRP ops the best of luck trying to get thru the 'mother of all pileups' in the upcoming South Sudan inaugural DXpedition that is soon to kick off from that new country. Every ham on the DXCC Honor Roll will be there fighting with the rest of us to get that QSO/QSL to keep their place in the standings. It should be the makings for a pileup to be remembered around the campfire for years to come

Yes it will be crazy! Really crazy! But (whether I actually get one or not) I can assure you that many QRPers will get a QSO. Fortunately for QRPers size of amp and antenna/tower aren't the only variables. Those who put the puzzle together correctly will be successful.

I thought I read somewhere that a second operation is scheduled after this one.

QRP-ers will work South Sudan in this first big DX-ped and in the future DX-peds as well.

There are some places in the world that are only activated once every 10 or 20 years because they are very difficult places to get to, politically "locked" or prohibited by environmental concerns.

I think Southern Sudan is not one of these, and that there will be plenty of other DX-peditions after this first big one will go there. All of the big DX-peds (that I have missed) had much smaller DX-peds follow them within a year or so - the 1 or 2 person DX-peds - where I worked them with ease on the first or second calls - because the huge DX-peds had eliminated the burning need from the masses.

Also - many huge DX-peds have cluster spots saying "Begging" after the first couple of days or weeks - especially if the DX-ped truly is trying to give everyone a chance. They keep the obvious band - 20M burning 24/7.

So - I only get stressed about working the one's where you know the next DX-ped won't happen for many years. There have only been a small handful of these in the last 10 years.

Tom is right to a certain extent, that an awful lot of the work in a QRP QSO is done on the RX end. That said, as alluded to by others, propagation is the great equalizer. Even with the low solar activity we've had lately, I've been able to work all parts of the globe since February using only 5 watts and a 50' doublet, which proves that it is technically possible to work 'em all QRP - the key becomes the stamina to stick with it, and DX activity levels, smart operation, etc.

Another thing I've noticed since my recent start in the QRP world - a lot of the guys like to work QRP to QRP, so even the QRP ops know what small signals sound like.

I'm hoping to get up some decent wire antennas and get more active in the fall, with a goal of having DXCC completed (worked) by the end of the year. The 45 or so I've worked so far have for the most part been Field Day style with a temporary antenna over a few weekends. With time and better conditions, I don't doubt that I'll be able to achieve at least 200-250 countries using 5w. My biggest limitation right now is the time I have to spend working on antennas and operating.

And howdy to Dan and Larry. I've started collecting QRP DXCC totals and publishing them on my website - Dan and Larry are at the top of my listings, but I know there are others out there with some big QRP DX numbers. I just haven't done much in publicizing that I'm compiling the list.

So, if anyone wants to contribute, or just see the handful I've collected for inspiration (I'm at the very bottom!), click on the "QRP DXCC" link on my website at www.aa4ga.com

Tom is right to a certain extent, that an awful lot of the work in a QRP QSO is done on the RX end. That said, as alluded to by others, propagation is the great equalizer. Even with the low solar activity we've had lately, I've been able to work all parts of the globe since February using only 5 watts and a 50' doublet, which proves that it is technically possible to work 'em all QRP - the key becomes the stamina to stick with it, and DX activity levels, smart operation, etc.

Another thing I've noticed since my recent start in the QRP world - a lot of the guys like to work QRP to QRP, so even the QRP ops know what small signals sound like.

I'm hoping to get up some decent wire antennas and get more active in the fall, with a goal of having DXCC completed (worked) by the end of the year. The 45 or so I've worked so far have for the most part been Field Day style with a temporary antenna over a few weekends. With time and better conditions, I don't doubt that I'll be able to achieve at least 200-250 countries using 5w. My biggest limitation right now is the time I have to spend working on antennas and operating.

And howdy to Dan and Larry. I've started collecting QRP DXCC totals and publishing them on my website - Dan and Larry are at the top of my listings, but I know there are others out there with some big QRP DX numbers. I just haven't done much in publicizing that I'm compiling the list.

So, if anyone wants to contribute, or just see the handful I've collected for inspiration (I'm at the very bottom!), click on the "QRP DXCC" link on my website at www.aa4ga.com

Hope so see some more calls listed soon.

73 de Lee, AA4GA

Hey Lee, Good job with 5 watts. Once you realize that you can work anywhere in the world with 5 watts, it all falls into place and the rest is up to you. As of now there are only 3 entities I've worked with 100 watts that I haven't worked with 5 watts. They are KP1 - Navassa - I'm not sure when the last time it was one the air - but its been a long long time; VK0 - Heard - I wasn't on the air the last time it was; and FT/W - Crozet - I think this one was on a few years ago, but I think it was SSB (could be wrong), in any case I didn't get to work that one. Spend a few hours in the CQWWCW contest this year and I bet you will be really close to DXCC. Good Luck and 73, Larry

Copyright 2000-2015 eHam.net, LLC
eHam.net is a community web site for amateur (ham) radio operators around the world.
Contact the site with comments or questions.
WEBMASTER@EHAM.NETSite Privacy Statement